7.21.2014

Tour de France: In Short - Richie Porte said...

1. HARD: “It’s been a hard Tour. One moment you’re second on GC and the next you find yourself out of the top 10. I’ll take things as they come now. I’m still struggling, but with the Pyrenees coming up, hopefully I can recover and try and bounce back."

2. ILL at the WRONG TIME: “I had great form coming into the race and I think I showed on the Plache des Belles Filles I was up there with the strongest guys. I can beat myself up as much as I want, but there’s some things you can’t control and it was about the worst time possible for me to get ill, just before the Alps."

3. BASIC GOAL: “My main goal now is making it to Paris. I’d like to go up the road somewhere and try for a stage win, but these last three days have been among the worst I’ve experienced on a bike, so that’s going to make it very difficult on the hard days to come."

4. SKY HAS OPTIONS: “It won’t just be left up to me though, we do have other options. Geraint Thomas and Mikel Nieve are both in great form and I’m sure they could try for a stage win somewhere as well.”

5. NEXT TIME:“Ever Tour is as unpredictable as the next one so I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities in the future for me to come in in good form and ride for the general classification. Every Tour’s different and we’ll just have to see what happens. It’s all experience at the end of the day.”

6. NIBALI:“Vincenzo’s a class bike rider. He’s won the Giro and the Vuelta and has been around a long time. He’s shown he’s been head and shoulders above everyone who’s left in the race and he’s got a good, strong team around him. He’s doing a great job.”